The Utility of the Consulting Case Interview

Question

Hey all,

I am doing some research on the method, and would love to get your responses to this.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1EYQGfpZELAz3rcY41Mf9WzdUwdhjHtdCkl13ZoQMrqg/prefill

Answer 1

Hi there,

I think this is an interesting question that may be relevant for many people. I would be happy to share my thoughts on it:

First of all, unfortunately, I am not able to see the content you have included in the link. As such, I would advise you to either make the link public or include the content in your question.
In case your question is whether case studies are a meaningful way to assess a candidate's future performance as a consultant, I would say it is not in absolute terms, yet it is in relative terms. While there are a lot of aspects about a case study that have very little to do with a real project, and other aspects are not being tested at all (e.g., teamwork), it is still the best possible alternative to assess it. Even more so, I would consider it to be far more meaningful than having a bunch of regular interviews as with most industries where you simply need to answer general personal fit questions.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to address your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Answer 2

Hi there,

Some more context would be great here. Additionally, you might want to open the document up so that people do not need to request access.

If the question is “is the case interview an effective way to test candidate abilities”, I genuinely think it is the best way to test a candidate's likelihood of being a good consultant (best compared to all the alternatives)

Answer 3

Hi there,

1) Cannot comment on doc on method - since we need permission to assess

2) Regarding whether using case interviews is a good way to test applicants - you have good quality answers - just adding some perspective

- I think it tests a broad spectrum of hard/soft skills you need to have the potential to be successful on the job in a very short timeframe (< 1 hour) e.g. structure thinking, verbal communication skills, problem solving, “grace under fire”, …

- It is not perfect as an absolute measure and lacks strong insight on e.g. teamwork dimensions and overall resilience but FIT interview part can give some hints there

Overall, in my experience (e.g. performance of people in job vs. cases) the overall format (FIT + cases) gives 60-70+% accurate assessment of a candidate

Hope this helps

Answer 4

I have no access to the survey.

Answer 5

Would be great to see the results of the study?

Answer 6

Hello, Great question! For someone who is just starting out, I usually recommend starting by doing some reading on ca... (read entire answer)

Hello, Great question! For someone who is just starting out, I usually recommend starting by doing some reading on case interviews to get a sense of how they work, what some sta... (read entire answer)